DUBAI — U.S. forces struck and destroyed three Iranian oil tankers on Saturday, September 5, U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) said, including one off the coast of Kharg Island, near Iran's key oil export hub. The operation was carried out after Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) launched ballistic missiles at two U.S. Navy ships, according to Central Command.

The destruction of the tankers was confirmed in handout video footage released by CENTCOM, which said the vessels were linked to the IRGC after the Iranian military organization fired on American warships. The strikes are the latest exchange of fire since renewed hostilities flared between the two countries. The new clashes, which began with U.S. raids last week, come as both sides remain deadlocked in the six-month war, with Iran keeping a stranglehold on the Strait of Hormuz and Washington pressing its counter-blockade of Iranian ports.

The tit-for-tat pattern — naval attacks met with escalating economic retaliation — has defined much of the conflict at sea, where neither side has so far struck the other's mainland energy infrastructure in a way that fully breaks the deadlock. Saturday's operation fits that pattern, targeting vessels rather than the export terminal itself.

"Let the message to the IRGC be clear: If you shoot at two of our ships, we will impose an even higher economic cost — taking out three of yours," said Admiral Brad Cooper, head of U.S. Central Command.

No American personnel were harmed in the exchange, Central Command said.

Iran responded by threatening intensified strikes against U.S. military vessels in the region. "If the evil, insecurity and the harassment of Iranian ships and the naval blockade of Iran continue, the strikes of the Islamic Republic of Iran's armed forces against U.S. military vessels in the region will be more severe than before and there is a possibility of their expansion," Iran's military command said in a post on state media.

Tasnim, the semi-official Iranian news agency, reported earlier that four U.S. missiles hit a tanker in the area of Kharg's anchorage. The agency quoted local sources as saying there were no casualties and that the tanker's crew was being evacuated.

The exchange of attacks followed an escalation over the past week that threatens to deepen a conflict which has dragged on since the United States and Israel launched strikes on Iran in February. The war has disrupted global energy supplies and drawn opposition from a majority of Americans ahead of congressional elections in November, making the political stakes of further escalation a factor for Washington as the vote approaches.

Trump's Threats Over Kharg Island

U.S. President Donald Trump said on August 31, in a one-line social media post accompanied by an AI-generated video, that Kharg Island was being "blown to smithereens." Iranian authorities have vowed a strong response if Kharg is attacked.

Iran is the third-largest producer in the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and exported 90% of its crude via Kharg Island before the war. Flows have been disrupted since a U.S. blockade of Iranian oil exports began in mid-April. Because the island handles the overwhelming share of Iran's crude loadings, any damage to its terminals would bear directly on Iran's ability to export oil at all, beyond the effect of the blockade on individual shipments.

Trump said on June 11 that he wanted to take over Kharg Island, but then said a threatened U.S. military operation there was off the table for now — days before Tehran and Washington signed an interim agreement aimed at ending the war on June 17. The renewed exchanges since then show the interim arrangement has not held.

A U.S. attack on Kharg would further pressure Iran's oil industry and its wider economy, which is already reeling from the U.S. naval blockade. The United States imposed the blockade on Iranian ports after Iran effectively shut the Strait of Hormuz, an important waterway that carried one-fifth of the world's oil supply before the war.

Brent crude futures closed at their highest level since July 24 on Friday, at $96.28 a barrel, as tensions in the Middle East drive global supply concerns. Sustained prices at that level have rippled through fuel costs for import-reliant economies, a pressure point governments in Europe and Asia have tracked since the blockade began.